On the Design of Flight-Deck Procedures - Intelligent Systems ...

pilot a much easier monitoring task. Technique, with all its value, does introduce a form of variability tocrew coordination (in both feedback and information transfer). Nevertheless, techniques can bepositively introduced during all other phases or tasks.Guideline #13: Procedure design includes intra-cockpit communication. The expectedcommunication should be specified, trained, and subject to standardization like any otherprocedure.6.2.2 Sharing of InformationIdeally, all information is shared and known to all crew members (Orasanu, 1993). Nevertheless, this isnot always practical. Not all information can be shared via SOP, as the amount of information can beenormous. In defining the task and the procedure, the crew coordination attributes must be also defined.The designer should determine the level of awareness required of other crew members about the task byasking:1. Must the other crew member(s) know all the details of the task (fly heading 280, intercept the 050radial of XYZ VOR)?2. Should the other crew member(s) know in general that the system is configured according toSOP (pressurization is set)?3. Should the other crew member(s) just be aware that the task is being taken care of (or undercontrol), but not necessarily its exact state (walk-around)?4. Is there is a need for the other crew member(s) to know about the task when it is part of someelse's SOP (that all flight attendants are “buckled in” prior to takeoff)?Another form of information sharing is a briefing. For example, during a landing briefing, the crew isbriefed on the published procedure, landing category that will be used, limitations, etc. as well assituation-dependent information that may affect the approach/landing task (weather, captain's minimums,gross weight, NOTAMs, etc.). Briefing, from a procedure development point of view, can therefore bedescribed as a task that assembles and coordinates a set of procedures in order to “ground” theprocedures within constraints of the forthcoming situation. Briefing is provided prior to the task in orderto facilitate transfer of information, to increase expectation, and to allow for better feedback.As discussed in Section 5.6, automated cockpits cannot be procedurized as completely or easily as theirpredecessors. General operating policies, recommended techniques, and individual techniques,substitute for this. However, all lack the “reduction of variance” attributes of a procedure. In managingflight path in automated cockpits, briefing becomes an critical crew coordination tool -- not so much toreduce variance, but rather to reduce the level of ambiguity in the minds of the other crew members byclarifying expectations. The more one allows for technique, the more one has to stress briefing.During our cockpit observations there were many instances in which in response to the challenge“briefing,” the person responsible for that task (usually the PF) would merely respond with the term“standard.” The meaning of this was that there was nothing to brief about as the forthcoming task was“as usual.” Based on the above discussion, we argue here that in a critical phase of flight such as takeoffor landing, there is no such thing as standard, and that a briefing (possibly very short, but still ofintentions, concerns, procedures, etc.), is always required. The use of “standard” in place of a properbriefing, may be regarded as a form of complacency.Guideline #14: In managing automated cockpits, briefing becomes an critical crewcoordination tool -- not so much to reduce variance, but rather to reduce the level of ambiguityof other agents (e.g., PNF or F/O) by increasing expectations. The more one allows fortechnique, the more one has to stress briefing.6.2.3 Reduction of AmbiguityAs our definition of procedure implies, a procedure should never be vague. Generality is a desirableattribute of a policy or a philosophy, but not a procedure. Procedures must be “bullet-proof” againstvagueness, as vagueness violates one of the most important by-products of cockpit procedures:37